As I begin my project responsibilities, I find myself in the uncomfortable position of having to make art.
One could make an argument that building the foundation of a piece of software, no matter how simple, is a sort of art form. You must decide on a vision for the piece and execute it. This, I am told, is what people call “creativity.”
Ultimately, what I am getting at is a strange mental fork-in-the-road I am experiencing. The project I am working on is a game, which is meant to be entertaining. The code I am working on currently is meant to be functional. I have, in my mind, been separating the two ideas. I am either working on functional code, which feels like building a bridge, or adding to the game story, which feels like writing a book. It is dawning on me that thinking of both of these things as different entities might be a mistake.
I think the block comes from the amount of confines I am working with. For example, if I am creating a new class to represent story item objects, I have to adhere to the pretty strict standards for how to create, represent, and use a class and its associated functions. Not much room for action and adventure there, is there? On the other hand, if I am crafting a sort of short form description of the immediate player environment, so long as I stay within the reasonable bounds of the overall narrative, the world is my oyster!
I think it is fair to say that both ventures, coding and writing, require some creative thought. Perhaps I will get some value out of trying to be more free and creative with my coding (within reason) and likewise I will get some value out of being more controlled and strict with myself with my writing. Only time, and hopefully this project, will tell.
